Washington D.C. Trip : Day Four

Tuesday January 20th 11:47pm :

History was made today.  Simple as that.  My grandchildren will read about today in their history books, and I was there to witness it.  

Today started practically before the last one ended.  We were out of our hotel room door at 3:45 and headed towards D.C. by 410am.  All roads in and out of D.C. were closed except for bus traffic, so it was surreal driving thru the nation’s capitol when it looks like it had been abandoned.  After we parked we had to find the subway that would take us to the National Mall.  Our guide knew that some of the stations would be closed, but they never posted the official list of closures so it had always been hit or miss.  3 misses and 1 hit.

We were pleasantly surprised and a little apprehensive when the subway arrived at our stop with empty cars.  We had been expecting record crowds and this was either a good sign for our travels during the day or an ominous sign of things to come.  It turned out to be the latter.  When we exited the subway we were smack in the middle of one of the densest assemblages of humans I had ever witnessed.  The platform had people going in 2 distinct directions to get out.  We meandered along the line and listened to the disembodied voice repeat over and over again, “do not hesitate at the turnstiles, have your ticket ready, move, move, MOVE people.  This is not social hour.”

And it only got worse.

We got in line for what we thought was the silver gate.  That was the gate we had tickets for.  It was cold this morning (12 degrees when we left) and we just huddled with the masses in front of the gate.  Some police cars were attempting to get thru the throngs of people and in the mayhem our group was separated.  Christian held on to me for dear life as he was pushed and bounced around.  His only benefit was that once we were within the throngs of people he just disappeared and was able to receive his full complement of body heat.

As it turned out that was not the entrance to our gate, and as first light came out we saw the REAL line on the other side of the street.  As it would happen, that line stretched back over 14 blocks.  We crossed and cut in the line (sorry) at about the 6 block mark.  Around this time, our group had been split and we really had no way to get a hold of them as cell phone coverage had been spotty. Just our luck…the rest of the group merged right next to us as they had cut in on the other side.  A brief security check and we had staked our claim in the silver section.  It was 9:00am.  The inauguration started at 12.  So we became expert timekillers.  The tour guide, Jeff, and I, tried to keep the kids entertained at least, so we decided that we would yell at everything that came on the JumboTron, just to get people to yell.  Success.  ”OOOOOOOOHHHHH, HELICOPTER”, or “OOOOOOOOOPRAH”.  Also, we tried to make it a point to get into all the pictures that we could, so whenever we noticed someone behind us ready to snap a few we would make ourselves large and get in the shots.

All of this tomfoolery managed to keep the kids occupied until something happened on the stage.

The festivities were great.  Although I was there for one reason, and one reason only.  To witness the swearing  in of Barack Obama.

Quick rating guide (according to the 1.4 million people on the National Mall)

George Bush : Nothing but boos

Dick Cheney : Nothing but even louder boos

Jimmy Carter : Nice applause

Bill and Hillary Clinton : Huge applause and screams

Rick Warren : Good reaction…although he was the only speaker that I saw have anything protested today.  When he started his prayer 2 women turned around and help 2 pink flags over their head til he was done.  I’m guessing a little, but I believe that that is their silent protest to Rick’s stand on gay rights.

John McCain : Nothing, no sound at all…couldve heard the crickets.

Barack Obama : Wild sustained passionate applause.

And he was amazing.  His speech has challenged me, and my generation to look forward with great responsibility. To remake America into the land of promise and opportunity.  Emotions whip up in you as you swell with pride to be part of such a moment.  And it was over…like that.

Christian and I were exhausted at that point, but we knew we had one solid chance of making the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum so we went for it.  It was cool, but i’ll have to go back for sure.  It was being used as a hotel from the looks of it.  He and I had trouble getting to a lot of the exhibits because people were sleeping everywhere.  By this point, he and I had been standing up for 12 hours while never sitting down once.  We were GASSED.  

We met up with the rest of the group and after much discussion, some of it heated, it was decided to forgo our eveing excursion due to to the size of crowds.  The only catch was a 4 mile hike to bus because, as I mentiioned before, most of the roads were closed.  I looked at Christian and he looked worried, but he toughed it out.

Added bonus .. saw Obama on the parade route by luck, walking the streets.  That’s classy.

So i sit here now with another early morning and full day out to come with trips to the Capitol and Arlington National Cemetary .. and I can’t wait.

To be continued…..

The inauguration platform

 

We were closer than what it seems

Lindbergh's ride across the Atlantic

 

Christian at the Washington Monument

~ by mszczep on January 20, 2009.